Once Upon a December
by Marina StormFire
Summary: She was 6 years old when they met, and he was 8. Her parents divorced after 4 years of them knowing each other. He was best friends with her brother... What will happen after 6 years pass? Change in Summary. I suck at summaries... R&R Rating my vary. Enj
1. Ch 1: How their friendship began

Once Upon A December

By: Shy Freefall

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Yu-Gi-Oh. **

**pairings: SxS, JxM, YxT, and others.**

**Warning: Characters may be a little OOC (Out Of Character).**

Summary

She was 6 years old when they met, he was 8. What happens when one friend moves away without saying good-bye and when the other being left behind, decides to look for their friend... 10 years later?

Chapter 1- How their friendship began

In the Park at dusk

A young girl with hazel eyes and long auborn hair swung in the park swing, waiting for her parents and older brother to come and pick her up.

'Where are they? They said they would come and get me.' the young girl thought tearfully to herself, as she started swinging herself again in the swing. Just then, a cold breeze swept behind her, making her shiver. She felt something being laid across her shoulders. Startled, she jumped out of the swing and turned around to face whoever it was that was behind her.

But when she faced whoever it was, she faced a pair of sapphire blue eyes. It was a boy that was about 2 years older than herself. The girl looked him over, brown chestnut colored hair fell over his eyes and wore dark blue jeans and a long sleeved turtleneck.

"Hello." The boy said, as he gave her a boyish grin. She looked down at the ground, avoiding the intense blue eyes that were studying her. She wore a long sleeved casual black shirt which flared at the elbows, sky blue blue jeans, and her hair was up in a messy bun, so that her hair was somewhat strewn about her shoulders.

"Um...hello." she replied a little shy of the young stranger in front of her. She started shivering again... uncontrollably this time. The boy noticed her shivering and frowning asked, "Are you cold?"

The girl looked up at the boy as she started rubbing her arms up and down with her hands to keep what little warmth she had to herself.

"Uh... yes, but I'll be fine." she replied indicating the light beige sweater that she had put on, while on the swing. I fit the black shirt, the sweater itself also flared at the elbows outlining the black shirt. The boy looked at her incredulously, and slowly shaking his head, bent to pick up the fallen jacket up off the ground, and went over to her. But seeing him coming ever so closer, she got scared and backed up. And as if he was reading her mind, he grinned at her which made her relax slightly and stop her backing up, and the boy gently reassured her that he wasn't going to hurt her and that she needn't be afraid. He then went around her to face her back and put his jacket across her shoulders.

"My name's Seto, Seto Kaiba." the boy said in hopes of getting the girl to calm down thoroughly, and sure enough the girl in front of him did calm down enough to continue the conversation.

"My name's Shizuka, Shizuka Katsuya. Nice to meet you. And arigatou." the girl replied, as she put her arms through the sleeves of the jacket, and turned to face him and give him a genuine smile, which surprised him.

'Her smile. Why is it I can't help but feel happy when I see her smile,' thought Seto, to himself. 'And why is it that I feel like I knew her once before in the past?'

All this time that Seto was running through his thoughts, Shizuka looked at Seto with a curious look in her hazel eyes, but at the same time got an idea in her head, and grew a little shy. The shy look on Shizuka's face had knocked Seto out of his thoughts for the time being-- literally. He then asked a question, cautiously so as not to bring her fears back,

"Are you alright, Shizuka?" Seto asked, as he studied her face. She looked a little shy, and yet a little... dare he say it... cute. She looked up at him, but then... with a small smile on her face, turned on her heel and started to walk away, but a small tug of a smile came to her lips, and said over her shoulder,

"Yes, I'm alright. It's just that... I was wondering if you would like to see something I made from school a couple of days ago." Seto just looked at her retreating form, and soon followed her closely. Shizuka felt him close on her heels, and made a slight fire burn up her neck and a little across her cheeks. For some mysterious reason, his mere presence made her feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Seto noticed her that Shizuka seemed to loosen up around him, which made him glad on the inside.

Suddenly, the two of them were stopped by a bunch of Jr. High kids, the biggest of them was a kid that was about 10 years old, dark brown crewcut hair, dark brown almost black eyes, and appeared to be the toughest of them. The boy stepped forward and said,

"Well, well, well, what have we here? A little boy and a little helpless girl? Well, this is our territory little boy and girl, so scram before we gonna hurt you."

At the boy's statement, Seto gently pushed Shizuka behind him, but she tensed and stood next to him, Seto looked at her and caught her glaring- which surprised him, he'd just met this girl, who seemed like a harmless kitten, but this kitten had transformed into a full grown cheetah-- her eyes glowing with a hidden bright fire behind them.

"But my things are over there." she complained, as the dark haired boy came toward her and brought out his hand to hers.

"Then, I suppose I could escort you to your belongings." he replied as he grabbed her arm and pulled her into his arms. Seto was overcome by anger, but hid it well when he saw Shizuka's wink.

'She's got something up her sleeve.' he thought to himself, but his mind brought him back to the present when he heard Shizuka say in a deadly tone,

"Never call me a 'helpless little girl'!" Seto was amazed at her, as she kneed the dark haired boy in the place where it hurts most on a guy, but realized that the entire group was closing in on the two of them... fast. Seto turned around and punched someone directly in the face, while he turned around again and punched yet another guy in the stomach. But while fighting another bully, he kept one eye on Shizuka, worried that she may get hurt in all the ruckus. But again, to his amazement, he saw her bouncing around in a nearby oak tree... like a pinball-- for in reality, she was a gymnast-in-training.

But since he was a bit preoccupied with fighting the bully in front of him and keeping an eye on Shizuka, he didn't see the fist that was heading straight for his face... right up until he heard someone shout,

"Yo, Buddy! Leave my Sista's friends alone!" And just before the punch landed on Seto, a blonde haired boy came into view, and landed a couple of good punches on the bully before turning to the auborn gymnast in the trees. Seto just looked at the blonde haired boy and thought to himself,

'He must be around my age or so.' A shout broke his thoughts and looked up to see Shizuka leaning a branch and looking down... not at him (Seto), but at the blonde haired boy.

"Jounouchi!" she called out, before she swung out of the tree. And the boy looked up and gave a small grin before answering her, just as she landed on the soft grass.

"Hey ya, sis. You weren't showin' off again, were ya?" asked the boy named Jounouchi. By this time, Shizuka's persuers were so tired, they lacked the ability to jump down from a 35 foot high tree.

"Nope, But gymnastics is my greatest strength and you know that I don't like to hurt people." she replied, but noticed Seto just standing there... she remembered,

"Oh, Joey! This is Seto Kaiba, my new friend," Shizuka turned to Seto to introduce him to the blonde named Joey. "And Seto, this is Jounouchi, My older brother. Jounouchi Katsuya."

Seto nodded and said, "Nice to meet you."

Joey did the same thing, but held out his hand,

"Yeah, same here." The two boys shook hands... in a sign of friendship, that was going to last for a very long time.

A/n: Hey peeps! Hope you like the story so far. More to come soon! How soon, I don't know. Don't forget to R&R! I look forward to reading your reviews! hee hee

So until the next time,

Peace out,

Shy Freefall

Ps... Someone/Somebody give me the japanese names for the characters of Yu-Gi-Oh, please, please, please!


	2. Ch 2: 4 years later

Once Upon A December

By: Shy Freefall

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Yu-Gi-Oh. I also don't own the title. So please don't sue me!**

**pairings: SxS, JxM, YxT, and others.**

**Warning: Characters may be a little OOC (Out Of Character).**

Last time:

_**Seto nodded and said, "Nice to meet you."**_

_**Joey did the same thing, but held out his hand,**_

_**"Yeah, same here." The two boys shook hands... in a sign of friendship, that was going to last for a very long time.**_

Chapter 2- 4 years later

10 year old Shizuka was at the park... the same park that she and Seto had met at 4 years prior... Karasu Park. Since that day, she, Seto, and Jounouchi would always meet at the park two times a week, but if they were lucky, three to four times a week. And Jounouchi and Seto, since that day became inseperable best friends. And Seto had even agreed to teach Shizuka and Jounouchi how to duel, and boy how thrilled they were.

But today was different.

Today, Jounouchi and Shizuka's mother and father were going to get divorced, and Shizuka needed someone to help her through this.

Just then, she heard footsteps behind her and spun around to face whoever it was... but unfortunately, she spun around a little too fast and fell... right into a certain someone's arms.

The person chuckled, and when Shizuka looked up, she saw a pair of cobalt eyes, and the tears that had welled up behind her eyes had begun to spill down her cheeks.

"Hey, Shizuka. What's wrong?" asked the gentle voice. Shizuka couldn't hold back her tears anymore, much less talk. Instead of answering him, she just let her tears fall, and leaned on him for support. The young 12 year old boy didn't understand what was going on, and Jounouchi had often teased him about being the only person to ever make Shizuka smile, which was only half true.

"S-set-o..." came Shizuka's choked out reply. Seto looked down at Shizuka, she looked alone and her eyes held such hopelessness and distress.

"What's wrong, Shizuka?" asked Seto, as he supported her, he gently led her to the same spot that they had fought the bullies for the very first time. Glad for the support of her friend, she leaned on his chest and cried.

"Shhhh... it's going to be okay, Shizuka. I may not know what the matter is..." Seto started, but was cut off by Shizuka's teary reply, "My p-parents..."

At that moment, Seto's heart went out to his young friend. 'She doesn't deserve to go through this.' he thought to himself.

"Hey, why don't we sit here for a while, okay?" he asked her, while gently pushing her away from himself and seating himself right at the base of a Wisteria tree. Shizuka nodded her agreement and seated herself next to him at the base of the same Wisteria tree. Suddenly, she felt so warm and fuzzy inside, when Seto put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her to him. Shizuka greatly felt relieved enough to tell him what she was crying about, and instead, snuggled closer to Seto, who allowed her to rest her head in the crook of his arm.

"So what about your parents?" asked Seto, after about 10 minutes of silence, except the rustling of the wind, chirping of the birds, and rushing of the nearby river. Shizuka opened her eyes, finally greatful for the distraction from falling asleep on Seto. She looked up at him with suspicion in her eyes. Then, she let up and complied saying rather sadly,

"My parents are getting divorced today. And my mom says that as soon as that is over with, she's gonna take me with her somewhere far away from here. But..." she trailed off, leaving Seto at a loss for words.

"But what, Shi?" he asked, calling her by her favorite nickname.

"But I'm afraid... that I'll never see you again!" she exclaimed, letting fresh tears stream down her cheeks.

"Shhhhh... it's going to be alright, Shi. Don't ever think that we won't see each other again. And besides, is Joey gonna stay?" Shizuka nodded her head uncertainly.

"I don't know. But what's going to happen now? I mean, when will we meet again?" Seto chuckled and looked down at the young girl, who was blushing a pretty shade of light rose red, that was spreading across her cheeks.

"We'll let the future take it's path and we'll take our own. And I promise you, somewhere along the way, we'll meet again." he said, as he rubbed his hand against her shoulder.

"Promise, Seto?" asked Shizuka, as she looked up at the him with hope literally shining on her face and in her hazel eyes.

"Promise, Shi." he replied. But about one hour and a half later, they heard Jounouchi's voice, he was saying,

"But, Ma! Can't she stay for a few days more?"

The two friends looked at each other, then got up to run, but Shizuka couldn't run fast enough and was caught by one of her mother's personal body guards, Michael Hazel was his name- he was an american, who was a recent grad student from a one year japanese college in law enforcement. Shizuka struggled against Michael's hold, but when she stepped on his foot- hard, his grip loosened and she was able to escape and run after Seto.

Seto turned when he heard a scuffle not 3 yards away and found to his horror a young man about 18 maybe 19 years of age, struggling to keep Shizuka in his grasp, up until she stepped on his foot and slipped her wrist out of the young man's grasp and start running toward him, while the young man was hopping aroung on his one uninjured foot.

As she came up to him, he said,

"Let's go, Shi!" The two of them headed right toward the Flower Forest as they called it, where they both knew what would come up next. And Lo and behold, the same group of bullies came out of nowhere and surrounded them, and now the boy from before was a lot tougher than before... but not smarter than before. Then, he spoke.

"Well, well, well. Look what the dog dragged in. The same two kids that outran us before. Looks like we'll get our revenge. What do you think, Boys?" At that moment, Jounouchi, Ms. Katsuya, and 3 other people came into view. Just in time to witness Shizuka and Seto fighting the same bullies, and Jounouchi came in the fight-- just as he saw the same bully manhandle his sister, but not before he saw her give him (the head bully) the knee in the same spot as before, and like before keeled over.

"Shizuka!" Ms. Katsuya admonished her daughter, when she saw what her daughter had done. Jounouchi then punched the keeled over guy in the face, but then glanced over and saw Seto about to get jumped from behind.

"Seto! Behind you!" yelled Jounouchi, as he turned around and punched another guy, who was gonna jump himself.

Seto was so busy that he didn't see someone coming up behind him... right up until Jounouchi's warning, he spun around and punched the guy in the face and knocked him backwards about 5 feet- dazed.

Michael just stood there, and watched the young girl jump into some nearby oak and birch trees with the agility of a gymnast and was amazed that after about 20 minutes or so, the boys-- also skilled in agility, were tiring down... fast. Finally, after about an hour and a half later, there were twelve unconscience bodies on the hard ground and about 10 others, tired out in the oak and birch trees. And Seto, Jounouchi, and Shizuka were a tired bunch to even look at.

"Shizuka Kai Katsuya, we're leaving right now. I'm not going to stay here in this city of fight- loving boys. No, we will leave right now." Ms. Katsuya stated, as she grabbed Shizuka by the arm and dragged her away before Seto or Jounouchi could do anything. But Shizuka called out to them, bringing them both back to the present.

"Jounouchi! Seto!" Shizuka yelled out, before her mother dragged her into the car and closed the door after herself as she got in after Shizuka.

"Shizuka! Don't go!" yelled out Jounouchi, but before he knew it, he was running after the rapidly disappearing limo. But soon he found himself held back by a pair of strong arms... they weren't Seto's... they were his father's.

"There's nothing you can do now, Jounouchi. Your sister will grow up just like your mother. You'll never see her again." he said, as he held his son back. Meanwhile, Seto was being held back by a pair of strong arms himself.

"Let me go! My best friend needs me!" he cried out at the man who was holding him back.

"No, Seto. You have studying to do. You'll have no time for that Katsuya boy. And you'll never see that selfish Katsuya girl ever again." the man said sternly, as he pulled... no dragged Seto into another limo taht was waiting for the two of them. the man had black hair with two streaks in his hair. two streaks on each side of his head, about 5'9, and was wearing a grey business suit. His name was Gozaboro Kaiba, Seto's father, who was the President of a huge company called Kaiba Corp.

The 3 friends/siblings were all devastated at what was happening to them. But they knew that someday, they would meet again. Shizuka disappears, Jounouchi moves with his father to Kyoto, and Seto studies hard as he is Gozaboro's heir to Kaiba Corp. But no one knew that the paths of these 3 friends/siblings would ever meet again, before the actual time came.

A/n: Gomen nasai for the late late update. ;

Too much to do in so little time, hehe, well, i sincerely hope that all of you who read this enjoyed the story so far... but if you haven't at all guess who the head bully is who tries to hurt Shizuka, well, I might never reveal his name in any one chappie! hee hee

Don't forget to R&R!

Until next time,

Peace out,

Shy Freefall


	3. Chapter 3: Meeting at Karasu Park

Once Upon A December

By: Shy Freefall

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Yu-Gi-Oh. I also don't own the title. So please don't sue me!

pairings: SxS, JxM, YxT, and others.

Warning: Characters may be a little OOC (Out Of Character).

Last time:

_The 3 friends/siblings were all devastated at what was happening to them. But they knew that someday, they would meet again. Shizuka disappears, Jounouchi moves with his father to Kyoto, and Seto studies hard as he is Gozaboro's heir to Kaiba Corp. But no one knew that the paths of these 3 friends/siblings would ever meet again, before the actual time came._

Chapter 3- Brief Meeting at Karasu Park

It was about 6 months after Shizuka and Jounouchi's parents had divorced and the 3 friends--- Shizuka, Jounouchi, and Seto were separated from each other, never to hear or see each other again.

But that was about to change.

RIIINNGG RIIINNGG

"Seto, can you get the phone?" asked Gozaburo, who was busy typing away on his computer. Seto looked up from his foreign language studies, nodded a silent 'yes'. He went to pick up the phone and asked,

"Hello?" in a rather hushed voice.

"Hello? Seto, is that you?" asked a feminine voice.

"Who is this?" he asked, still in his hushed voice

"It's me, Seto. Shi." Replied the said voice.

"Shi? Is it really you?" Seto couldn't believe it, Shizuka didn't seem to be busy at all and was scheming for ways to seeing or hearing him again.

"Yeah, it's me. Can you do me a favor, Seto?" asked Shi, who seemed to be talking in a hushed voice as well.

"Sure, Shi. Anything. What do you need?" he asked her, still in his hushed voice.

"Okay, I can't stay on the phone for much longer. Can you send one of your best guitar/music teachers to me with a picture of you and your two little brothers? I would like to meet them someday." Shizuka replied.

"Why, Shi?" asked Seto curiously wondering why his friend wanted to learn music.

"You might recall me having told you what one of my dreams are… I want to become a singer… well a country singer for that matter." She replied, and smiled at the memory of having told her first best friend.

"Oh, ehehe… right, I remember now. Where do you want to meet her? When? And what time," he sent the barrage of questions off at unimaginable speeds giving him one of Shizuka's muffled giggles.

"My father fired one of the best music teachers for teaching country music. So sure I can do that." Seto said, as he suppressed a heavy blush… that was burning his face.

"You're so funny, Seto. I almost forgot how funny you were. At Karasu Park and ASAP for those last two questions. What's the name of the teacher with your picture?" Shizuka asked, voice still muffled.

"Okay… the name of the teacher is Reiko Yamaguchi. Alright?"

"Okay… Arigato, Seto. I've missed you… and still do." Then she hung up before he could reply.

"Yeah, I still miss you… and I still do." Seto mumbled to himself, as he put the phone back on the receiver, but then picked it back up and dialed the number to Reiko Yamaguchi's apartment, and let her know that she had a student waiting for her at Karasu Park and wanted to learn country music and become a country singer. Reiko was so happy that she said that her student didn't have to pay a single cent for her lessons. Seto agreed and after a short discussion with her, hung up.

After he hung up, he went back to the living room, where his father was still typing away at his computer. "Who was it, Seto?" asked Gozaboro, who didn't bother looking up at his oldest son. Seto just looked at him with an expression of boredom on his face.

"Just an anonymous caller asking me to get them into contact with a music teacher that you fired," Seto said, not telling who that anonymous caller was, but otherwise told the truth to his father. Gozaboro looked up at his son for the first time since the phone call just a few moments ago.

"And no, they didn't give their name when I asked for it." Gozaboro stared at Seto long and hard trying to figure out if he was lying or not. Then, he went back to his typing, while saying,

"You can take your studies up to your room, Seto. You can have a 2 hour break. You can go out and do whatever you wish." Seto looked up and silently nodded.

_'Finally,'_ Seto thought to himself, _I can finally go and see Shi.'_ He quietly packed his school things into his backpack and quickly and quietly went up the stairs, set his backpack down, grabbed his wallet and jacket, slowly went down the stairs, and almost reached the front door, when all of a sudden, a small voice came from behind him.

"Seto? Where're you goin', Big Brother?" asked the voice. Seto turned around and found his two younger brothers, Noah and Mokuba. It was Noah who had asked the question.

"I'm going to the park for a couple hours. But if you want to, you guys can come with me." Replied Seto, cheerfully. The two boys looked at Seto, then at each other, then back at Seto… then practically pounced on him, yelling,

"Yeah! We get to go on an outing with our Big Brother! And "Yayyy! Seto's gonna take us out!" Seto couldn't help the smile that was spreading across his face at his younger brother's antics.

"Alright, alright… quiet down. Father is still busy typing. Now go and get your jackets and meet me by the front gates, 'k, guys?" Seto laughed softly to himself at their scurrying away to get their jackets, and he made his way out the door and to the front gates, but to his surprise, a young woman, that he recognized, with short dirty blonde hair and in her 20's, was just outside the gates and about to push the gate button—but stopped suddenly when Seto approached.

"Ahh… young Seto, your young friend is already at Karasu Park and is waiting for me to arrive. I drove passed the park in wondering if you would like to come with me." The woman said, while pulling her hair into a high ponytail… at least what she could put into a ponytail.

"Sure," replied Seto, while opening the gates from the inside. "but my younger brothers are coming too. It was unexpected, but Shizuka said something about meeting Noah and Mokuba. So…" But before Seto could continue, Noah and Mokuba were coming up to them… running.

"Whoa, slow down, Kiddo!" exclaimed the young woman, catching Mokuba just before he fell flat on his face.

"Ahehehe… gomen nasai, Miss Reiko. Where're we going today?" apologized Mokuba, as Noah helped dust him (Mokuba) off.

"We're going to Karasu Park, Little brother." Seto said, while opening the doors to a simple black and yellow convertible that was parked by the front gates.

"Really? Wow." Noah asked in awe, amazed that instead of asking for a limo, they were going to ride with the fired music teacher. The two brothers followed their elder brother into the convertible and the door was shut behind them by Reiko, who then headed to the driver's side and off they went.

Meanwhile at Karasu Park

There was a familiar auburn haired girl waiting for someone to arrive with some teachings of music and a picture of Seto and his two little brothers. Just then tap on her shoulder made her spin around… again… a little too fast… and into a certain someone's arms.

"You did it again, Shi." stated the mystery boy, chuckling and helping the young girl back up only to see familiar cobalt blue eyes.

"Seto!" the girl cried out, and lunged at him for a hug. Seto returned the hug gently, then slowly turned the girl around to face the people he had brought with him.

"Shizuka, these are my two little brothers, Noah and Mokuba." Noah smiled his boyish smile, and Mokuba stepped forward and held out a small photo to Shizuka.

"This is a photo of Seto, Noah, and me. I really hope that you and Seto will always be friends." Mokuba said, as Shizuka gently took the photo.

"Oh, arigato, Mokie-chan!" exclaimed Shi, as she hugged the photo close to her.

"It's actually a copy of the original, which is kept with me. I actually made 4 copies of the photo and…: he trailed off for a moment, as he took out a medium sized package out of his jacket pocket and gave it to Shizuka and continued,

"this is for you." Shizuka took the package from Seto and opened it and right before her own eyes, she looked into those dark blue eyes and then back down at the package. Inside the package was a small adjustable duel deck belt and also a pendant that looked like the back of a dueling card.

"Arigato, Seto-kun." Shizuka finally said, as she went to give him a hug.

"Itashimashite, Shi-chan." Seto replied, as he returned the hug.

"Gomen nasai for ruining the moment, but I do believe Miss Katsuya and I must be going, ne?"

Shizuka looked up at the young woman.

"Are you…?" Seto nodded his head at the woman.

"Hai, I am Reiko Yamaguchi. Seto must've told you that I was going to be teaching you music." Shizuka hugged Seto, but while she hugged him, she slipped a slip of paper into his back pocket. When Seto felt Shizuka put something into his back pocket, he was startled.

"Shi!" Shizuka broke away with a small smile on her face and turned to hug Seto's younger brothers good-bye.

"Ms. Yamaguchi, I think it's time for us to go now." Shizuka said, as she turned to her new music teacher.

Reiko chuckled, and opened the door of her car for Katsuya Shizuka, who thought to herself, _'I hope that he reads it and writes to me soon.'_

She chuckled and soon looked in her lap, where she found a music folder and several music sheets with no notes or words on them.

"This is your first lesson, Shizuka. You are going to be your own composer and musician. Composing first, then the instrument. Okay?" Reiko told her. Shizuka looked at her, then nodded her head in agreement with what she was going to be taught.

"Okay, Miss Rei." Shizuka said, as she looked out the window at the fast passing scenery. Reiko looked at her surprised that she'd been called by her old school name. She smiled and drove off with Shizuka in the passenger's seat.

OoOoOoOo

A/n: Konnichiwa, Minna-san! Gomen for the long long delay in updating this chapter. I hope everybody's enjoyed this chapter so far… Chappie 4 is on its way. So enjoy whatever's up and running…kk? Anywho, depending on how many reviews I get for this chappie, I might start putting up previews for the next chappies.

Until the next time,

Peace out,

Shy Freefall


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